In settler elections, a choice between foreign and domestic
Oded Revivi boasts ability to relate to audiences abroad while Yigal Lahav argues that the next Yesha Council chairman must place greater emphasis on internal dialogue
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
An election for the head of the settlement movement’s umbrella group is shaping up into a referendum over whether the group’s leader should primarily serve his constituents in the West Bank or act as a global ambassador for the controversial enterprise.
Members of the Yesha Council, which represents Israel’s West Bank settlers, will convene Monday to elect a new leader, choosing between Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi and Karnei Shomron Mayor Yigal Lahav to fill the shoes of outgoing chairman Avi Roeh.
Revivi is seen as the favorite. The 48-year-old father of six has gained considerable name recognition over the last nine years as mayor of Efrat, a sprawling settlement south of Jerusalem popular with English speakers.
He speaks fluent English and has served as Yesha’s chief foreign envoy since August 2016. He was part of a delegation of settlers who attended US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
He has also built relationships with key representatives throughout the government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Revivi is seen as a relative moderate. He has spoken out against West Bank annexation, saying it could lead to apartheid, and has opposed the construction of a security barrier around Efrat, arguing that cutting off Israelis from Palestinians will not bring peace.
One former Yesha official told The Times of Israel that while both candidates offer impressive track records, Revivi is “the right man at the right time… His relationship with Netanyahu and foreign media finesse make him a natural fit for the position.”
While less known to those outside Yesha, Yigal Lahav has gained a sizable following since taking over the Karnei Shomron local council in 2013. In the upcoming year, the settlement west of Nablus is set to welcome 500 new families, making it the fastest-growing community beyond the Green Line. He says he’d like to see the total settler population double to a million.
Lahav, 56, also represents a growing population of secular settlers in an umbrella organization where an uncovered head is rare to find. While he insists his views on religion are a non-issue, the organization thrived under the leadership of its last secular leader, Dani Dayan, whom Roeh replaced over four years ago. Lahav also told The Times of Israel that he has the support of 15 local council chairmen within Yesha.
Though both candidates emphasized the importance of putting together a long-term plan for the organization that included planning and infrastructure improvements for West Bank settlers, they differed in their diagnoses of Yesha’s problems of late.
“There has been great leadership over the past three years, but in the last two-three months, the contact between local council chairmen has been lacking,” Lahav said, adding that he would work to bring every Yesha member to the decision table.
Revivi focused on a separate issue. “In the last few years, the Yesha Council hasn’t been widely represented in the media, and in that respect I think I could serve as a good presenter,” he said.
The Efrat mayor argued that West Bank residents are treated as “second-class citizens” in the eyes of the law, which he said takes longer to be implemented over the Green Line.
“People don’t understand this and instead believe misconceptions that the government gives preferential treatment to residents in Judea and Samaria,” Revivi said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.
“I can present our needs to the media in way that they won’t be seen as the needs of a certain sector, but rather of an entire community that can’t be ignored,” he added.
But Lahav argues that external relations should not be the priority of the Yesha chairman. “We don’t need to always be focused on responding to the outside world and proving that we’re right,” he said.
The Karnei Shomron mayor said that time would be better spent cementing Israeli presence in the West Bank. “If we do this, we will no longer always need to be justifying,” he said. “It will simply be clear to everyone.”
Nonetheless, Lahav argued that settlers have a role to play in strengthening the Jewish identities of those living abroad. “I want to reach out to Reform and Conservative Jews as they absolutely should have a part of what we are doing here,” he said.
“But 80% of the job should be reserved for Judea and Samaria residents and 20% for foreign relations,” he clarified.
“At the end of the day, I prefer talking to the residents of Amona than to the foreign media, and people appreciate me for that,” he said, referring to the evacuees of an illegal outpost that was dismantled in February and for whom a new settlement is now under construction.
The incumbent’s perspective
Recognizing the style differences between the two candidates, the outgoing chairman, Roeh, said that each is trying to play up his strengths. Asked whether the next chairman needed to place an emphasis on internal or external dialogue, Roeh diplomatically responded that an even balance was necessary.
He described a sense of relief in his decision to step down. “I accomplished what I had set out to do when I took this job over four years ago. We are much more unified now as a movement, and I am proud of that,” Roeh told The Times of Israel.
The 63-year-old will continue functioning as chairman of the Binyamin Regional Council, but explained that he had been increasingly uncomfortable with the evolving duties of Yesha’s top post. “I don’t really like making public appearances. It’s just not who I am,” he explained. “But when I turn down an invitation from the US ambassador to attend an Independence Day celebration, this becomes a problem that can hurt the organization.”
Among the roughly 20 settler leaders who will be choosing Yesha’s next leader is Jordan Valley Regional Council chairman David Elhayani. The Argaman resident refused to endorse a candidate, saying it would depend on the answers each would give at the Monday meeting prior to the vote.
However, he made a point of commenting on the fact that both candidates intend to maintain their roles as local council chairmen, as previous Yesha leaders have done.
“This job is way too important for it to be part time,” he said, adding that there have been a number of Yesha members who have been trying to recruit a third candidate from outside of the organization that would devote 100% of his time to the post.
Officials said others would be eligible to submit their candidacy until the day of the vote.
